Editorial: Where credit's due at WLHS

West Lafayette High School Principal Ron Shriner was swift to deflect credit for his school's latest accolades to the students in the classrooms.

U.S. News & World Report recently ranked West Side at No. 19 among the top U.S. schools in terms of science, technology, engineering and math education. The all-important STEM disciplines count plenty in a country fighting to produce engineers and experts in all sorts of scientific and technical fields.

Shriner offered this as the main reason for the honor: "You've got to have the kids. The kids are the ones who show up every day."

There's no doubt that West Lafayette High School is stacked when it comes to students who come to the classroom from households of university researchers and others who sport a schools-first attitude.

But don't short-change the teachers, staff and administrators who get those students.

Case in point: The U.S. News & World Report rankings weren't taken from just any schools. Instead, they were taken from the 500 public schools from the publication's 2012 Best High Schools rankings. Those schools were evaluated for the STEM rankings by student participation in science and math Advanced Placement tests.

So we're guessing that among those 500 best schools, at least a few get motivated crops of students. West Lafayette did more than hold its own against the best with a Top 20 ranking.

West Side teachers and principals shouldn't be so humble on this one.

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Editorial: Where credit's due at WLHS

West Lafayette High School Principal Ron Shriner was swift to deflect credit for his school's latest accolades to the students in the classrooms. U.S. News & World Report recently ranked West Side at